Outcome tracking in sensory prostheses

Abstract

Presented herein are techniques for detecting sensory outcome issues through an analysis of data representing the direction of incidence/arrival of a sensory input and inertial data representing movement of the recipient's head following detection of the sensory input. By correlating recipient head movement (including lack of movement) with the arrival direction of the sensory input, a sensory prosthesis system can determine whether or not the recipient acted as expected and, if not, whether a sensory outcome problem is present.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method, comprising:
 receiving sensory inputs at a sensory prosthesis implanted in the head of a recipient; 
 obtaining head motion data representing movement of the head of the recipient following receipt of each of a plurality of the sensory inputs; and 
 determining, based on the head motion data obtained following receipt of each of the plurality of the sensory inputs, whether the recipient is experiencing a sensory outcome problem. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining whether the recipient is experiencing a sensory outcome problem comprises:
 determining that the recipient is experiencing at least one of a decline in the recipient's residual hearing or a decline in the recipient's cognitive ability. 
 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining whether the recipient is experiencing a sensory outcome problem comprises:
 determining that the recipient is experiencing at least one of a decline in an operational performance of the sensory prosthesis or that the sensory prosthesis is improperly fit to the recipient. 
 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 obtaining data indicating an activity level of the recipient following receipt of each of the plurality of the sensory inputs. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 obtaining data indicating a direction the recipient is facing following receipt of each of the plurality of the sensory inputs. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 following receipt of each of the plurality of the sensory inputs, obtaining data indicating a content of each of the plurality of the sensory inputs; and 
 wherein the determining whether the recipient is experiencing a sensory outcome problem is further based on an analysis of the data indicating the content of each of the plurality of the sensory inputs. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 following receipt of each of a plurality of the sensory inputs, obtaining data indicating a direction of arrival of each of the plurality of the sensory inputs. 
 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 7 , wherein determining that the recipient is experiencing a sensory outcome problem comprises:
 analyzing the motion of the head of the recipient relative to the data indicating a direction of arrival of each of the plurality of the sensory inputs to determine whether motion of the recipient's head was consistent with an expected head motion. 
 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 6 , wherein the content of each of the plurality of the sensory inputs includes one or more of: (a) an indication that the corresponding sensory input includes an association with the recipient, (b) a level of the corresponding sensory input, and (c) a frequency of the corresponding sensory input. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the sensory prosthesis is a hearing prosthesis and wherein each of the plurality of sensory inputs comprise sound. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 10 , wherein the method further comprises:
 recording a classification of a sound environment of the recipient at the time each of the plurality of the sound signals are detected by the sensory prosthesis; and 
 wherein the determining that the recipient is experiencing a sensory outcome problem is further based on an analysis of the classification of the sound environment of the recipient. 
 
     
     
       12. A method, comprising:
 receiving sensory inputs at a sensory prosthesis implanted in a head of a recipient; 
 following receipt of each of a plurality of the sensory inputs, obtaining data indicating at least one of the direction the recipient is facing or motion of the head of the recipient following receipt of each of the plurality of the sensory inputs; 
 obtaining data indicating a content of one or more of the plurality of sensory inputs; and 
 based on the data indicating at least one of the direction the recipient is facing or motion of the head of the recipient and the content of the one or more of the plurality of sensory inputs, assessing at least one of a sensory ability of the recipient, a cognitive ability of the recipient, an operability of the sensory prosthesis, or a fit of the sensory prosthesis to the recipient. 
 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 12 , wherein assessing at least one of a sensory ability of the recipient, a cognitive ability of the recipient, an operability of the sensory prosthesis, a change in operation performance of the sensory prosthesis, or a fit of the sensory prosthesis to the recipient, comprises:
 determining at least one of a decline in the sensory ability of the recipient or a decline in the cognitive ability of the recipient. 
 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 12 , wherein assessing at least one of a sensory ability of the recipient, a cognitive ability of the recipient, an operability of the sensory prosthesis, a change in operation performance of the sensory prosthesis, or a fit of the sensory prosthesis to the recipient, comprises:
 determining at least one of a decline in an operational performance of the sensory prosthesis or that the sensory prosthesis is improperly fit to the recipient. 
 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 12 , wherein the content of the one or more of the plurality of sensory inputs includes one or more of: (1) an indication that the one or more of the plurality of sensory inputs includes an association with the recipient, (b) a level of the one or more of the plurality of sensory inputs, and (c) a frequency or frequency range of the one or more of the plurality of sensory inputs. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 12 , wherein obtaining data indicating at least one of the direction the recipient is facing or motion of the head of the recipient following receipt of each of the plurality of the sensory inputs comprises:
 generating one or more inertial measurements representing motion of the head of a recipient following detection of the corresponding sensory input. 
 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 following receipt of each of a plurality of the sensory inputs, obtaining data indicating a direction of arrival of each of the plurality of the sensory inputs. 
 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 17 , wherein assessing at least one of a sensory ability of the recipient, a cognitive ability of the recipient, an operability of the sensory prosthesis, a change in operation performance of the sensory prosthesis, or a fit of the sensory prosthesis to the recipient, comprises:
 analyzing the motion of the head of the recipient relative to the data indicating a direction of arrival of each of the plurality of the sensory inputs to determine whether motion of the recipient's head was consistent with an expected head motion. 
 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 12 , wherein the sensory prosthesis is a hearing prosthesis and wherein each of the plurality of sensory inputs comprise sound. 
     
     
       20. A sensory prosthesis system, comprising:
 one or more sensors configured to detect a sensory input; 
 at least one processor configured to process the sensory input; 
 a memory to store data associated with the sensory input; and 
 an outcome tracking module configured to, upon detection of each of a plurality of sensory inputs:
 determine and store a short term state of a recipient of the sensory prosthesis, the short term state including one or more of the recipient's current activity and physical orientation, and 
 determine and store a content of one or more of the plurality of sensory inputs, wherein the content of the one or more of the plurality of sensory inputs includes one or more of: (1) an indication that the one or more of the plurality of sensory inputs includes an association with the recipient, (b) a level of the one or more of the plurality of sensory inputs, and (c) a frequency of the one or more of the plurality of sensory inputs. 
 
 
     
     
       21. The sensory prosthesis system of  claim 20 , wherein the outcome tracking module is further configured to:
 based on the stored short term state of the recipient determined upon detection of each of the plurality of sensory inputs and the stored content of each of the plurality of sensory inputs, assessing at least one of a sensory ability of the recipient, a cognitive ability of the recipient, an operability of the sensory prosthesis, a change in operation performance of the sensory prosthesis, or a fit of the sensory prosthesis to the recipient. 
 
     
     
       22. The sensory prosthesis system of  claim 20 , wherein the sensory prosthesis is a hearing prosthesis and wherein the one or more sensors comprise sound inputs configured to detect sound signals. 
     
     
       23. The sensory prosthesis system of  claim 20 , wherein the sensory prosthesis is configured to determine, based on the short term state of a recipient of the sensory prosthesis and the content of one or more of the plurality of sensory inputs, whether the recipient is experiencing a sensory outcome problem. 
     
     
       24. The method of  claim 23 , wherein determining whether the recipient is experiencing a sensory outcome problem comprises:
 determining that the recipient is experiencing at least one of a decline in the recipient's residual hearing, a decline in the recipient's cognitive ability, a decline in an operational performance of the sensory prosthesis, or that the sensory prosthesis is improperly fit to the recipient.